Solar Storm: Homeward Bound

by Vincent Keith

  “Oh hell.”

  Jack considered the issue for a minute, tugging at his beard, which was now long enough to twirl around a finger. "Crap." Jack turned and paced. He didn't want to disappoint Rachael, and he couldn't let the girls go without proper care, not after what they'd been through. Besides, he felt sorry for Steinwald. The man had been through hell. How the heck did all this become my problem?

  “What kind of shape are the girls in?”

  “They seem okay, but we’re keeping an eye on Lori. She’s got a nasty cut on her leg. I cleaned and bandaged it. I’m trying to decide if I want to use a dose of antibiotic just in case.”

  “How’d she get cut? Did she say?”

  “She says it was on the fence. I assume she means that horrible pen they locked everyone up in.”

  "That whole place was filthy, and the bits and pieces of metal were rusty."

  Rachael nodded. “Cathy says Lori got her last booster for tetanus, diphtheria and whooping cough shot earlier this year.”

  “You think that’ll be enough?”

  “No, not for an infection, but for tetanus? Yes.”

  “I doubt there was anything Steinwald could do given the conditions in that camp. If you have any doubt, use the antibiotic.”

  Rachael nodded, relieved.

  Jack continued pacing while he worked through various options. He would occasionally stop dead in his tracks and stare off into space. After a few minutes of immobility, he’d start pacing again.

  “There’s just no way we can take them with us, and I think you know that.” Jack winced at the look on her face. “But I guess you’re right. We can’t leave them all here, at least for the long haul. We need more information before we can even make a workable plan, and we can’t simply plan other people’s lives without talking with them.”

  Rachael watched Jack pace. She felt awful about dumping more trouble in his lap, but there was no doubt in her mind that if they just left, Dr. Steinwald would be dead within a month. She just couldn’t figure out how to fix it, and that’s what Jack did, he fixed things.

  “If we take Steinwald out of the equation and assume that the antibiotics do the job, will the girls be okay here? No, shit—this camp is just too small to support as many people as they have, unless…damn.”

  Jack continued to talk to no one in particular for several minutes. Finally, he stopped pacing. “All right, ask Lexi to raise Henry and Brian on the radio. I’ll find Miguel. We need to figure out what’s possible. What’s your best estimate of how long before the girls will be stable enough to travel, and I’m not talking about easy travel either.”

  “I’d like to give her a few days at least. I put eleven stitches in to close up the gash.”

  “I figured as much. Here’s what I’m thinking: we leave tomorrow or the next day.” Jack held up his hands to forestall her objections. “Chris and Eva will sit on the situation and keep Chet and Geoff distracted when the Doc needs to check on the girls. Steinwald is rational enough to do that right?”

  “Yes, I think as long as Lori still needs medical care he’ll be okay. I think I’ve got him convinced that he’ll do a better job of that if he eats and sleeps regularly. He’ll make fewer mistakes.”

  “Good, that’ll keep him alive too. Okay, so we need to find out what Brian’s schedule is. What I’m hoping to do is have Brian pick up the girls and their families on his way through. Assuming Henry is sure we can feed eight more people. We’ve got to be getting close to the limit by now. Assuming we haven’t already passed it.”

  “What do we do if Henry says no?”

  “We leave them in Coulee City. They’ve got a few hundred people up there already. They’re doing useful work. Helpful to the Army, that is, which means Brian should be able to swing additional rations for them. Geoff and Chet are in pretty good shape, so is—what’s her name—Chet’s wife? Cathy? I think if they see it as an opportunity to care for their families they’ll bust their asses doing whatever they can.”

  Rachael nodded. “Tina, Geoff's wife, is doing much better now she has her little girl back. But I think those two will need some help to work through this. I was told by a few people that when the girls went missing, Tina blamed Geoff."

  "Right, well blame, as useless as it is, is also a pretty typical reaction. So, if they have several kids at the dam, then they've got to have someone watching them, if not it'll be a good job for Cathy and Tina. They'll be able to earn their keep."

  "Jack! How can you worry about—" She stopped, realizing what she was about to say. "Sorry. Of course, they need to earn their way. No one can afford charity cases anymore. I just…it's hard."

  “I know, but it’s more than that. Those men will need work to make them feel like…well, like men.” Jack shrugged. “Even if we take them all the way to the Monastery,” Jack paused with something approaching a grin. “Man, Henry must hate that name—Anyway, even if we adopt them, they’ll need to pull their weight, even the little ones, eventually.”

  Jack’s pacing resumed, his hand stroking his beard as his mind went over the logistics again, looking for the things that would bite him in the ass later.

  Rachael reached out and trapped his hand, stopping his pacing. As Jack turned to face her, she noticed for the first time the graying hair in his beard, at his temples, the extra lines carved into his face, and around the eyes. She wrapped her arms around him and held on as tightly as she could.

  “I’m sorry Jack, I’m so sorry. This has all been so unfair to you. All you wanted to do was get home.”

  “Shush, I’ll survive.” He said, returning her hug.

  They stood like that for several minutes, just wanting to feel the touch of the other, to feel loved, and safe.

  Jack sighed, “Go. Talk to Lexi, tell her we need a conference with everyone we can reach. I’ll see you as soon as I find Miguel. I want to check out that silage and grain storage facility we passed on our way back to camp. If it’s not empty it could change everyone’s plans.”

  “ARE YOU SURE HENRY? OVER.” Jack released the mic. It took a few moments as his question was relayed by Art from the military radio to the ham radio. The differences in equipment and lack of any alternatives were slowing things down, but it was better than nothing at all. Each change of speaker required some coordination with Art. When the military radio was in use, he'd hold the mic open on the Ham transceiver so it could pick up the speaker's voice. He'd reverse the process when Henry or someone else was talking on the Ham radio.

  “Annie says yes, so…yes. Things in Omak shifted a week back. We added two groups who were afraid their supplies would get confiscated for the benefit of the town. They each came with a fair amount of useful stuff. Marty and Steve have two greenhouses up and started. Steve put together a couple of rocket mass heaters to heat them, so it’s downright tropical inside despite the snow. We don’t have enough composted soil to fill the rest. Maybe in a few months. Over”

  “What about Omak? Is that going to blow up in our face? Over”

  “I believe we’re past that point. They've lost quite a few people from violence, sickness, work injuries, lack of meds, and quite a few just from the stress of it all. I think the Egerton and Vasquez families packing up and leaving shook them up. They’re finally pulling together and dealing with the problems rather than just bitching about them. Over”

  “Break.” Captain Brian O’Neal’s voice came through the speaker.

  “Go for O’Neal,” said Art.

  “The General has a series of supply drops he’s going to be making in about two weeks. We’ve received an airlift of beans and wheat from a grain depot somewhere in Kansas, and rice from some place north of Sacramento. I’ve asked him to do drops for Omak, Coulee, Pendleton, Hermiston, John Day, Burns, and Lakeview. The team has instructions to send some of that to Adin. Hopefully, they’ll get something in trade, over.”

  “Brian, can you ask them to make a drop for the Lyon’s Ferry camp? They need propane for heating and
cooking, and they need some source of Vitamin-C. Over.”

  “I’ll add Lyon's Ferry Camp to the list. I think he's including Omak as a repayment for all the effort you guys have been putting into helping us stabilize this region. It won't be a large drop for them, MRE's and some medical supplies. I'll ask Colonel Eastman over in Umatilla to see what he can do about the propane. I’m sure the grain trade will be sufficient motivation. Over.”

  “This is Henry. Captain, those folks need the food and the longer we wait, the worse it will get. Priority wise, I’d say Lyon’s Ferry first, then the Omak-area drop. We can send food to Omak to help them out short term as long as we know what we use up will get replaced. Jack, will that help enough? Over.”

  "I think so, as long as Brian's schedule is firm, Over to Brian."

  “I don’t anticipate any issues. We have more than enough fuel, we’ve established our base camp in Burns, Lakeview is under new management, again. Things are fluid, but we’re keeping a pretty good eye on it. Getting the radios working has been a huge help. I wish we didn’t have so many relays to deal with, but our tech guys say your approach with the aircraft radios will need to suffice for now. We’re just not in a position to fix it any other way. I’ll be moving out to rendezvous with Sergeant Hernandez at your place in twenty-one days. Over to Jack.”

  “Okay. Art, can you start putting together a list of who has what radio gear? We need to see about setting up repeaters and maybe switching to data for stuff like this. See if you can get in touch with Frank down in Adin. Henry, you’re probably the only site that can reach Lewis-McChord, see what they can scrounge up in the way of Ham gear, even if it’s not working. We might be able to fix some of it. I can’t think of anything else we need to cover. Over.”

  “This is Henry. It’s up to you Jack. We will make it work whichever way you decide is going to work best. Over.”

  “This is Jack. Okay guys, thanks. We’ll go with Plan-B. We’ll head north to Coulee, then home. I guess I’ll see you all when I see you. Over and Out.”

  Jack listened to Art as he checked with each person on the net before shutting it down.

  Before the meeting, Miguel and Sameer had walked down to the granary to check it out. The grain bins were more than half full, which meant that there was almost 200 tons of wheat and barley. The much larger silage silos were only a quarter full, but that still amounted to nearly 500 tons of winter feed for livestock. While no one at the KOA camp had a way to make use of either, several other places could and that gave the KOA something of value to trade.

  Eli was going to send his truck with the biggest trailer he could find to pick up a load of silage for livestock and a few hundred pounds of wheat. The Army was sending a convoy of five-ton trucks to make a delivery to Coulee Dam and another to Umatilla. They were also going to detach a platoon to the KOA to help with security. The General made it a priority to locate similar storage sites around the areas they had already secured. Finding tons of wheat and barley would allow him to continue feeding his troops and to help out communities that were on the verge of starvation. The biggest worry at this point was not letting any of it go to waste. Being able to feed the livestock was a huge relief.

  Silos and grain bins were familiar sights all over Eastern Washington, Oregon, and California. A typical large silo could hold more than 1,000 tons. Groups of four to twenty silos were common along rail lines and major highways. It would take resources to locate them, and there was no guarantee they wouldn’t be empty, but it was easily worth the risk. It would take even more resources to transfer the vast wealth to where it would do the most good. Everyone was busy looking for tools they could use to grind grains into flour. Brian’s boss had also set up teams to search for flour mills that might still work or could be made to work. The grain was a life saver if they could turn it into flour.

  The Army agreed to provide the trucks necessary to tow campers and trailers if people refused to abandon them. Everyone had lost so much, so fast that it was likely some would want to hang on to what they had. It would depend on what the campers decided. Jack hoped that they could keep the hatchery working, but he had no idea what would be involved. Regardless, Chet, Geoff and their families’ would ride with Brian’s team when they came through the area.

  It took hours of talking with Chris Epps, Chet, and Geoff. And a whole different set of conversations with Dr. Steinwald and Chris. The Army would set up a permanent checkpoint at the KOA, using troops from Umatilla. The goal to was to keep the river crossing secure as well as secure the grain storage. Steinwald agreed to stick it out until the Rangers could take the families north. He would attach himself to the Rangers as they were more likely to need a surgeon than the Lyon’s Ferry camp. With the mobility of the Rangers, he could visit the towns and camps that needed medical attention. And he’d finally have some, if not all, of the supplies he needed. Sergeant Hernandez agreed to leave his spare radio with Chris. Captain O’Neal would pick it up when he came through Grand Coulee.

  The burial detail, led by Sameer, left early the next morning.

  42

  STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT

  Five of the weary travelers gathered close around the campfire seeking light and warmth in the barren, snow-covered landscape, their shadows flickering faintly against the snow. The air was full of the scent of burning pine. Each of the companions soaked in the warmth and serenity of the flickering light. All through history people had gathered around the mesmerizing peace and comfort of campfires, safe from the unknown darkness. Once again, the campfire was a symbol of warmth and security.

  Jack had thought the alcove created by the huge piles of gravel would provide excellent cover. It wasn’t until the sun had set that he realized how much light the snow covered hills would reflect. Still, he wasn’t willing to trade the comfort for security when they were so far from any potential threats.

  Allan was on watch. He’d moved to the top and the far side of the gravel pile to prevent the campfire from spoiling his night vision. The night was cold and clear, and the world took on a monochrome cast in the moonlight reflected from the snow. The scene was lit well enough that even without the fire he had no problem scanning the harvested fields. The Sergeant had shown him how to stay below the crest, which prevented him being silhouetted against the sky. The huge piles of gravel were used by the railroad, which was barely thirty yards off to the east, and made a convenient camp along their path north.

  The huge piles made a good wind shelter or would have if there had been any wind. It also blocked the direct light of the campfire from all but one narrow direction. While the pile was only about twenty feet at its highest, the ground in the area was so flat that it gave Allan a rather commanding view.

  Sergeant Hernandez poked at the fire, more out of boredom than need, and then returned to studying his map. “Intel has Lind at around five hundred and seventy people, assuming no losses, which is pretty unlikely. I think we should cross US-395 about here.” The Sergeant pointed to a spot on the map not far from their campsite. “Which is about a mile east of town. Then we can cut across the fields and reconnect with what I think is State Route 21, this road here.” He held the map out for the others to see.

  “We’ll probably have to cut some barbed wire fences, but that looks to be the best route. We won’t know for sure until we get there, but I figure we’ll go down and cross the highway under the overpass. If they’ve got people out scouting, then we’ll need to go further northeast before we cross. The terrain is so open around here it’s impossible to hide. So we’ll use distance to avoid trouble.”

  It was just after two AM when Allan spotted the three shapes trying to sneak across the open ground, more or less from bush to bush. As quietly as he could, he crawled to the top of the gravel pile, picked up a stone and tossed it at the tent he shared with the Rangers. It was not more than ten seconds before the two men came through the tent flap weapons ready. Miguel looked up to Allan, who was just high enough up to peek over the top o
f the gravel pile. He took a stone and tossed it gently, landing it in the snow about a foot from Allan’s head.

  Allan pulled his mittens and waved then signaled three and pointed in the direction the raiders were coming from.

  “Doug, get Jack and the girls up, quiet like, then work your way around the north end of the pile. I’ll cover the south. Have Jack and the girls link up with me. It’s possible our visitors spotted the fire and are here to see what’s up, but let’s be sure.”

  Doug drifted over to Jack’s tent. Hoover recognized him right away and put his head back down. Dusty rose up to greet him, which was enough to rouse Jack. Doug whispered quick directions while he woke Lexi, then disappeared. Jack woke Rachael and filled them in while they got their boots on and found their rifles. It took them the better part of three minutes to get out of the tent and locate Miguel.

  “What took you?”

  “We’ve gotten out of the habit of sleeping with our boots on. I guess we’d better get used to it again. Any sign of weapons?”

  “Bows, believe it or not. Recurve, not compound.”

  “I believe it. How do we handle this?”

  “There’s a party of three, armed with bows. Yeah, we have guns, but a bow, a good bow, can take down anything I’d consider shooting with this,” Miguel said tapping his rifle.

  “They must have seen us come in. There’s been no light for over six hours, so they had to know we were here, which means they were probably watching when we arrived. Or at least while the campfire was burning,” said Jack.

  Miguel nodded. “That indicates to me they’re up to no good. Maybe they’re just thieves but maybe not. Lexi, quiet as you can, up the hill here, no peeking over the top until we make contact. I don’t want them to know you’re there unless we need you. You’ll know because it’ll get noisy all of a sudden.”

  Lexi nodded and slipped away.

  “Rachael, you go cover Doug, he’ll tell you where he wants you. Jack, you, me and the dogs are the welcoming committee. If they break toward this side, we’ll let them come. If they head for the other side, we’ll light them up with the weapon lights, and then I’ll figure out what they’re after.”